Digital Transformation in Healthcare Discussed by Industry Leaders at ATA and ViVE Conferences
In recent weeks, HealthTech attended two major healthcare industry events - the American Telemedicine Association conference in San Antonio and ViVE 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. These conferences focused on the topics of digital transformation and hybrid care, with healthcare leaders from various sectors, including CIOs, physicians, and nurses, participating in the discussions.
At ViVE 2023, the challenges of digital transformation in healthcare were heavily debated, particularly around the issues of data quality, consistency, and trust. Healthcare organizations struggle with fragmented data from multiple sources and acquired entities, often with no clear audit trail or transparency. Disparate health records and inconsistent patient data formats hinder the ability to unify patient information for accurate diagnosis or personalized medicine.
To address these challenges, generative AI was identified as a potential solution. Generative AI can help improve patient identity matching, enhance data analysis, support clinical decision-making, and assist in monitoring AI deployments for compliance with governance standards. This technology can enable healthcare systems to overcome foundational challenges around data integrity, interoperability, governance, and clinician engagement, ultimately translating digital tools into improved patient outcomes and more sustainable care delivery.
Michael Archuleta, CIO of Mt. San Rafael Hospital, emphasized the need for a true technology revolution in healthcare, stating that it is one of the most antiquated industries. Sara Vaezy, executive vice president and chief strategy and digital officer at Providence, expressed understanding for the challenges of operationalizing hybrid care but did not mention the need for a technology revolution.
Providence has an offering called ExpressCare, which is an on-demand care approach designed to be hybrid from the ground up. Vaezy stated that operationalizing hybrid care requires major transformations in care models, compensation, and staffing. She also mentioned that Providence will continue to expand ExpressCare.
However, Vaezy did not discuss the challenges that older legacy systems present to digital transformation, the potential benefits of generative AI in extracting meaning from data, or the issue of unstructured healthcare data. During a ViVE session, healthcare leaders did discuss the challenges that older legacy systems present to digital transformation.
Healthcare should be leading the pack in innovation and digital transformation, according to Michael Archuleta. Despite the challenges, it seems that the future of healthcare is moving towards a more digital and hybrid approach, with the potential for generative AI to play a significant role in this transition.
In the ViVE 2023 conference, healthcare leaders discussed the potential benefits of generative AI in overcoming challenges related to digital transformation, such as improving data quality, enhancing data analysis for accurate diagnosis, and supporting clinical decision-making in health-and-wellness. Additionally, during the conference, it was mentioned that generative AI can also help monitor AI deployments for compliance with governance standards and assist in improving patient outcomes, demonstrating its importance in the science of technology-driven healthcare.
